Briefs | Relatives urge Beijing to return 12 detainees to Hong Kong

Relatives of 12 Hong Kong activists detained at sea by Chinese authorities called Saturday for their family members to be returned to the territory, saying their legal rights were being violated. At an emotional news conference, the group said their relatives should be allowed to meet with lawyers they themselves have hired, not those appointed by Chinese authorities. They also said they should be provided with needed medications, be allowed to call their families and eventually be allowed to return to Hong Kong. The Hong Kong government has not provided any sort of concrete assistance, leading the families to come forward to urge authorities to help, said pro-democracy lawmaker Eddie Chu, who hosted the news conference. The 12 were reportedly seeking to make it to the self-governing island of Taiwan by speedboat when they were caught by the Chinese coast guard and detained in the southern city of Shenzhen on Aug. 23. They have been held incommunicado since then.

China releases five missing Indian nationals amid standoff

The Indian army said Saturday that China has released five Indian nationals who went missing earlier this month from the eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh amid simmering tensions between the two countries along a disputed mountain frontier. The five men were hunters and will be quarantined for 14 days as a precaution against the coronavirus before being handed over to their families, the army said in a statement. China’s state-run Global Times newspaper disputed India’s claims, and said the released men were intelligence agents dressed as hunters. The five men went missing on September 2, adding to the already heightened tensions between India and China. The two countries have been locked in a bitter standoff for months in the Ladakh region, where in June they had their deadliest clash in decades.

Domestic air travel recovers in Wuhan, once virus epicenter

Domestic air travel in Wuhan, the epicenter of the global coronavirus outbreak, has returned to pre-pandemic levels, authorities say. The virus was first detected in Wuhan late last year and the city underwent a draconian 76-day lockdown as its hospitals struggled to deal with a tidal wave of cases that required the rapid construction of field hospitals to handle the overflow. Since re-opening in early April, life has gradually returned to normal and numbers of domestic flights serving the city, as well as the number of passengers, had both fully recovered, according to the operator of Wuhan Tianhe International airport. It said 64,700 passengers were transported aboard 500 domestic flights on Friday. The airport is preparing to eventually resume international passenger flights to destinations such as Seoul, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, Qu Xiaoni, an airport representative was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.